Svetlana Tikhanovskaya

A year has passed since the presidential elections in Belarus, when the current government harshly suppressed protests against falsified results. Thousands of people are still in prisons, tens of thousands were forced to go abroad. Among the new emigrants there are politicians, they are even called the government in exile. And there are ordinary citizens who could not even imagine that they would ever have to leave their homeland. The film tells how this Belarus lives, a huge community of migrants that has emerged over the past year. The stories of the heroes add up to a chronicle of what is happening in their country after the elections on August 9, 2020.

A pack of chips for three and a few pies. This is a dinner for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and members of the joint headquarters of Veronika Tsepkala and Maria Kolesnikova. Even before their pre-election pickets began to be canceled, we spent the whole day with the presidential candidate and her team.

A documentary about student protests in Belarus. Gaudeamus igitur, Juvenes dum sumus! This is the slogan of all students, which originates from an old student song. Today we, the students of Belarus, instead of learning a variety of professions, are fighting for the right to live in a peaceful and free country.

The film presents the activities of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya from the moment she registered as a candidate for the presidency. An unknown housewife unexpectedly won the support of Belarusians.

The presidential campaign in Belarus in 2020 did not bode well for surprises. The permanent (since 1994) head of state Alexander Lukashenko went to his sixth term. During this time, an authoritarian political regime was established in the country. None of the real applicants were registered as presidential candidates: some were arrested, others left the country. As a result, the only competitor of the incumbent president was the housewife, the wife of one of the political prisoners, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.

The film "Don't Be Afraid" tells about the struggle of the Belarusian people for fair elections. The fates of people who responded to the call of blogger Sergei Tikhonovsky and who took part in the 2020 presidential campaign are shown.